Freedom: More Than I Bargained For
by Zapper
Summary: Sirius, still in hiding during Harry's 5th year, meets up with Pettigrew in the forest he was hiding in. Is Freedom his?
1. The Answer

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, because I'm willing to bet that someone has already used this plot and we all know that Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, because I'm willing to bet that someone has already used this plot and we all know that Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.

If only he had caught Peter Pettigrew after James's death or at least caught him when Harry discovered him in his third year, then Harry could live with him instead of those horrible Dursleys. Instead, here he was living in a forest in the middle of nowhere. Those were the thoughts racing through Sirius Black's mind as he ran deep into the forest.

He had to live off of food, which unfortunately included squirrel and rabbit he caught while in dog form. He hadn't had a proper bath in months, the most he'd done was swim in the stream and try to get the dirt out of his hair. 

At the present moment, he was sniffing around for some signs of food. He hadn't been able to catch even the smallest rabbit in days. At last, he discovered a rabbit family. He was just setting up his attack when the rabbits scampered away at the sound of footsteps. 

"Hello Padfoot, long time no see." The voice wasn't cheerful, or happy in any way. It wasn't Sirius's good friend, Remus Lupin. It was Peter Pettigrew. 

"_The rat..."_ Sirius thought and noted that Peter's wand was still inside his pocket. Padfoot was a fairly large dog but it doesn't mean he was slow. Peter's brain, on the other hand, was. 

Sirius leaped toward Peter, pulling the wand out of Pettigrew's pocket with his mouth. 

"Damn you, Padfoot!" Sirius quickly became him self again, and pulled the wand from his mouth. 

"Wormtail, you rat. I still know how to use this...even if I haven't held a wand for fourteen years. _Stupefy!_" Peter slumped to the ground. Sirius quickly thought over his options, which were few....the best, by far, was to Apparate to the outskirts of Hogsmeade and contact Dumbledore. He could definitely keep Peter at bay: Peter had no wand and Sirius always had more strength than Peter did, physically and magically. Dumbledore recently informed him of a spell that could be used to keep Peter from transforming into a rat, which he performed immediately. 

Sirius gave Peter a few good kicks for what he had done to him. He tried not to think about killing Peter, because that could just worsen things. Besides, he had more things to worry about like how to contact Dumbledore and if he would be cleared even if he didn't kill Peter. He needed to know what Peter was after him for, and why. He sincerely hoped it was Peter's own idea, not Voldemort's. 

Sirius grabbed hold of Peter's arm, half-expecting Peter to protest. He didn't, obviously, because he was still stunned. Sirius clearly pictured the caves he had visited Ron and Hermione in last year, and waved Peter's wand. He suddenly found himself in the all-to-familiar caves. Peter started to stir. 

Sirius whipped out his wand. "I'll kill you if you try anything, Wormtail!" 

Peter looked confused, forgetting what just happened. 

"Well, well... seems little Peter can't turn into a rat, now can he? Of course, you already are a rat..." Sirius muttered darkly, and raised Peter's wand. He uttered a few choice words and Peter found himself in a Full Body Bind. Sirius transformed back into Padfoot, and set off toward Hogsmeade. 

Once there, he noticed the place was swarmed with people. Kids were running all over the place. In Zonko's, out of Zonko's, into Honeydukes. They were everywhere. Then he remembered it was a Hogsmeade weekend! Which meant Harry would probably be around as well. He wished he could transform into himself and just ask someone. Any kid he asked would recognize him and call for help. 

Sirius noticed someone. It was a girl, about Harry's age, with flaming red hair. It took him a minute to see the connection. Ron's sister! It must be...same hair, same freckles. Maybe, just maybe, she would hook up with her brother. Or Harry even. Sirius was pretty sure Harry had mentioned something about Ron's sister having a crush on him. 

He was looking around everywhere for Harry, being careful not to lose track of Ron's sister. Harry didn't seem to be in Zonko's or Honeydukes, but there were so many kids in there it was hard to tell. 

"Snuffles?" 

__

"Yes!" Sirius thought. _"That's Hermione...she should be able to get Dumbledore for me..."_

Sirius tugged on Hermione's robes lightly, and motioned for her to follow as he trotted off. It took a lot longer to get back to Peter than it had taken to get to Hogsmeade; Hermione had trouble keeping up with Sirius, he's really fast when in his dog form. Once they reached the entrance of the caves, Sirius returned to human form again. 

"Hermione, I've got Peter. You need to get Dumbledore to come down here...I don't think I can risk going into Hogwarts again..." Sirius sighed. 

"Why not? The school's practically empty now...only first and second years are there...." Hermione missed the real point for she was way too excited of Sirius finally being free. 

"I'm not leaving Peter alone," said Sirius. "I have to make sure he's not going to escape again ...can you just please go get Dumbledore for me?"

Hermione nodded, said good-bye, and ran back to Hogsmeade in a hurry. Once Hogsmeade, Hermione headed off toward Honeydukes, where the secret passage back into Hogwarts was. She heard something, but as the passage was fairly dark, she couldn't tell what it was.

"Harry? Ron?" she called out. Harry's heads popped up into view.

"Sorry I lost you inside Zonko's…I lost Ron too...you aren't mad, are you?" Harry asked as soon as he realized whom the voice belonged to.

Hermione silently chuckled at his way of greeting her. They immediately noticed the huge smile on her face and asked, "What happened?" 

"Sirius is here..." Hermione started saying.

"Sirius? We've got to see him! Where is he?" Harry cut Hermione off. 

"Let me finish Harry! ...He has Peter! Isn't that great?" 

"Finally! I'm getting kind of sick of having the closest thing I have for a family spends his time as a dog....We better get to Dumbledore quick!" Harry ran to the cellar of Honeydukes and opened the trapdoor. They hurriedly walked to Hogwarts in silence. 

Harry was much more excited than it seemed. Same went for Sirius. They were both thinking basically the same thoughts. It had to do with Harry living with Sirius and no more Dursleys. The other thought was that Sirius was free.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Elsewhere, where the mood was far from cheery, there was a bony hand petting a large snake. The hand belonged to one of the most feared wizards of all time, Voldemort. If anyone had caught sight of Voldemort at this very moment, that person would have shaken with sheer terror for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was looking horrendously frightening, his red eyes glowing with murderous intent.

A Death Eater had yet again failed him. All he wanted was for Wormtail to get Sirius Black. Sirius had no wand, and Peter had a wand. Sirius had no clue that Peter was coming, and Peter knew what to expect. It was such a simple task and still Sirius got the upper hand. No one lived after they failed Lord Voldemort….

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Treacle Fudge, Lemon Drop, Cockroach Cluster, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans…" Harry voice trailed off, he was too excited to get Sirius free that his mind seem to come up blank.

"What are you doing, Harry?" Hermione inquired, wondering why Harry was rambling off names of candy to a gargoyle.

"The password, for Dumbledore's office, is always some type of candy," Harry, unable to think off anything else muttered, "Canary cream." The gargoyle opened.

"Amazing…I thought only the Gryffindors knew about George and Fred's candy…well, leave it to Dumbledore…" whispered Hermione.

Harry entered Dumbledore's office, closely followed by Hermione. When they entered the office, Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, teasing Fawkes with some of his beloved lemon drops.

"Hello Professor…we…er...have some…interesting news…." Dumbledore smiled, as if he already knew what was coming. Harry shook that thought from his head. After all, how could Dumbledore know?

"Yes?" Dumbledore prompted, turning away from Fawkes. Harry opened his mouth to speak, but Hermione blurted it out first.

"Sirius has Pettigrew in the cave near Hogsmeade" Dumbledore smiled at the two, popping a lemon drop into his mouth. He stood up, and walked over to the fireplace. On the mantel, there was a small bucket that held a powdery substance. Harry was a tad confused, as he hardly saw how Floo Powder was helpful in this situation. This powder did something different. When it was thrown into the fireplace, Dumbledore shouted Professor McGonagall's name. Her head popped up in the fireplace, just as Sirius's had the year before in the Gryffindor common room.

"Minerva, I need you to meet me at the entrance to the castle in a few minutes…there's something I need some help with. Would you mind fetching Severus for me also?" McGonagall was fairly cheerful until Snape's name was mentioned. She clearly did not like him very much, but she didn't complain.

"Yes, yes, of course Headmaster. Might I ask what this is all about?" 

"I can't say at the moment. Just come down to entrance. Trust me." Dumbledore waved his wand, and the connection was broken.

"Well, come now! You don't want to keep your godfather waiting any longer than necessary, do you?" Dumbledore's eyes gave off the familiar twinkle, and the trio set off to meet McGonagall and Snape.

It was a silent walk, and no one spoke until they were nearly at the doors. Harry finally couldn't take it anymore. He was bursting inside to say what he would do with Sirius but what came out of his mouth was quite a different story.

"Professor, do you think people will accept Sirius? I mean…even if he's cleared?" Dumbledore once again looked as if he was expecting this question.

"I hope so, although I can think of several people who won't…." Dumbledore chuckled at the last bit. 

Harry and Hermione both understood he was referring to Snape. At the entrance hall, both McGonagall and Snape were waiting. 

The five of them walked toward Hogsmeade. Harry was itching to use his somewhat faster route but decided against it. He didn't really want to give one of his only secrets about the castle away. 

Upon reaching Hogsmeade, Hermione suggested, "Shouldn't we get Ron? I mean, he knows all about this. More than you, Professor." Hermione said this pointing at McGonagall and then to Snape, the two in the group who knew nothing of Sirius being innocent.

By some amazing luck, Hermione spotted Ron in the crowd of people. His fiery red hair was definitely helpful in some situations.

"Ron! Over here!" Hermione waved her hands in the air, so Ron could find them. She didn't need to though. It was fairly hard not to spot the group of his two closest friends and his teachers. 

Ron trotted over to them. "What's going on?" Ron said, with a tad of confusion.

"Well, it has to do with Snuffles…" Harry said, not wanting to tell McGonagall or Snape what was about to happen.

"Oh…." Ron still wasn't totally sure what was going on.

The group continued in silence. A few minutes later they arrived at the cave. Harry, Ron, and Hermione broke into a run to enter the cave, smiling when they saw Sirius 

"You got him! You FINALLY got him!" Harry exclaimed.

"Got w---" McGonagall started to ask. She saw Sirius with Pettigrew's body, and whipped her wand out. Snape did the same. 

"Put your wands away. You won't need them. I expect it's time to explain a few things…" Dumbledore waited as Snape and McGonagall put their wands away. McGonagall also took the liberty of pulling Harry, Ron, and Hermione away from the escaped prisoner.

"Minerva, it's all right. Sirius is perfectly safe, more than perfectly safe, now that we have Pettigrew."

"Pettigrew? I thought that he, well, died."

"He did, in a sense. Black was not the Secret-Keeper, it was Pettigrew right here, who is still very much alive. It was Peter who sentenced the Potters to their death, and it was Peter who killed the twelve muggles. He's made a full confession before, and he'll do it again."

"Headmaster, is it…true? I never thought that Sirius really did it, but after a few years it began to sink in." inquired McGonagall, in disbelief.

Dumbledore launched into the full tale of what happened that Halloween fourteen years ago and what happened in the Shrieking Shack just two years ago. He was, of course, greatly helped by Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were more than happy to help. Sirius was silent through it all. From him only came a few glares at Snape, and Snape returned them with a glare equally full of hate,

"So yes, Severus, Harry and Hermione did help Sirius to escape that night. Only because he was innocent, of course." 

Snape was incredibly angry at the last statement, and looked over a Sirius.

Sirius was starting to act like his old self, because he replied with a fake smile, full of fake love. "You do forgive me, don't you dear Severus?" 

Harry cracked up, as did Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, and Sirius. But Snape didn't join in the laughter but his mouth seemed to twitch, obviously trying not to laugh. Instead, he sneered.

"It's just your luck that Pettigrew here is here, it wasn't talent that brought him here. I'd say you still owe me my promotion." 

They didn't take Snape's odd comments seriously and the group went back to Hogwarts with Pettigrew.

A/N: This was an incredibly fun story to write! I enjoyed it a lot, and I hope you guys liked it! :o) Some of you may have read the other version that I posted. Well, I got myself a beta reader, (Thanks Caitlin Allyana, you rock! :o) and am going to take this story in a different direction than I originally thought. Which means I'm not going to give a little hint of what will happen in future chapters, because I'll probably change it again! Please review…if you aren't an author, you don't really realize how much the reviews mean! 


	2. Fudge, Meet Sirius

Disclaimer: I don't, haven't, and never will own Harry Potter unless someone has some Polyjuice Potion and lots of JKR's hair…

Disclaimer: I don't, haven't, and never will own Harry Potter unless someone has some Polyjuice Potion and lots of JKR's hair….but that will never happen…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The trip back to Hogwarts was uneventful; the whole group was quiet along the way. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were lost in their thoughts. McGonagall and Snape had already recovered from the shock at the turn of events. To bring Pettigrew, who was still in Full Body Bind, to Hogwarts, Dumbledore had to levitate him. Sirius had changed back into a dog, as he didn't want people to attack him when he reach Hogwarts. 

It certainly was an odd sight as the group entered the castle. Several students who couldn't go to Hogsmeade were in the Great Hall. Some mainly paid no attention, as Hogwarts had strange things going on all the time. A few of the first years stared, but they continued their games of Exploding Snap.   


It didn't take long for them to get to their destination, Dumbledore's office. "Lemon Drop." Dumbledore uttered the password, the gargoyle moved aside, allowing them passage into the office. Once they were securely inside the office, Sirius changed back to human form and undid the Body Bind on Pettigrew. It took all of Sirius' will power not to kill Pettigrew that instant.   


"Are you willing to make a confession now, Peter?" Dumbledore asked him, his tone serious. Peter merely kept his mouth shut, and hoped they wouldn't think of using the Truth Potion on him.   


"No? Severus, please—" What Dumbledore was saying was cut off by an enraged Sirius. "You filthy bastard. Just tell us why the hell are you here!" He uttered through clenched teeth, looking very menacing, he advanced towards Pettigrew, but was quickly held back by Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They really didn't want Sirius to end up killing their one piece of evidence. 

Hermione suddenly had an idea, "Um, Professor?"   
  


"Yes, Miss Granger?" Dumbledore's eyes were still fixed on Pettigrew. It looked as if he was reading right through Pettigrew's mind.   


Hermione bit her lip, hesitated for a moment, then said, "Never mind."   
  


"As I was saying Severus, could you please go send owls to Minister Fudge and Mr. Lupin? They need to come immediately. Don't tell them why." Dumbledore pulled out a lemon drop and chewed it with his stare still fixed on Pettigrew. Snape nodded curtly then left hurriedly.

"Yeah, we don't want Fudge to bring the Dementors with him. We still need this slimy two-faced git for the trial," said Ron, in a sudden outburst.

"RON!" Hermione was shocked that Ron would say such thing in front of Dumbledore.

"Sirius," said Dumbledore, as he finally turned tore his gaze away from Pettigrew, "we all want to know what exactly happened between you and Mr. Pettigrew."   
  


"Pettigrew," he spat the word with such hatred, his face filled with loathing, "had come upon me in the Forbidden Forest, with the probable intention of capturing me. Stupid of him, he came with his wand inside his pocket. I managed to get the wand and placed a Body Bind on the slimy bastard."

Dumbledore looked at the Sirius's angry demeanor, not saying anything. The rest of them listened intently to the story of Pettigrew's defeat. Sirius was in the midst of telling them about trying to find someone in Hogsmeade for assistance, when Fudge stormed inside the room.

The first thing he noticed was Sirius. His eyes grew wide, "SIRIUS BLACK!" he yelled in surprise. Sirius Black, was the only man ever to escape Azkaban, the man who murdered eleven muggles and Peter Pettigrew, was sitting in Dumbledore's office. His eyes darted away from Sirius to look who else was in the room. He did a double take when he saw a pudgy, slightly balding, short man, quaking in fear by the side.   
"P-P-Pettigrew? You're supposed to be dead! What the HELL is going in here?" 

"You bloody idiot. Peter was very much alive but I was imprisoned for 14 years for a crime that I didn't commit." Sirius said, his voice had a hardened edge on it. He wanted to strangle Fudge for all the years he suffered inside Azkaban. 

Fudge was outraged. He turned to face Dumbledore, "You believe this criminal?" pointing an accusing finger to Black, "That isn't Pettigrew, he's dead! We…we found his finger in the street!"   
  


As always, Dumbledore remained calm, he looked at the other occupants of the room and warned them to be quiet. They all silently agreed. Fudge would twist whatever they said around. "Yes Cornelius, I trust Sirius. He was not the Secret-Keeper for the Potters. Peter was…Peter was the one who betrayed the Potters." Dumbledore was cut off yet again by Sirius. 

"It was Peter who blew up the street," said Sirius, his face an angry mask, "It was Peter who faked his death. It was Peter who cut of his bloody finger. He's also the one who made Voldemort come back to full power. You might think Harry's mental state is questionable and doesn't know what he's talking about, don't you? But you're dead wrong." Sirius wanted to say more but Dumbledore gave him a look. He finally calmed down and kept quiet.

Fudge was still torn between disbelief and wanting to take in Sirius and Dumbledore's word. Finally, he said, "You'll get your trial. You'll need to come with me to the Ministry's holding cell." With a wave of his wand, Sirius had invisible handcuffs on. Another wave and he found himself in a Ministry holding cell. 

It was a small room, housing only a small bed. He pulled his tattered shoes off, and flopped on the bed. It creaked so much when he did that, he was afraid the he would be hitting the floor in a pile of wood. He sat there, willing himself to fall asleep. Eventually he did manage to fall asleep and dreamt of freedom. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N: I'm sorry it's so short, and I'm also sorry it took so long. It was originally going to be longer than this, but I got writer's block, and figured that this was better than nothing.

Special thanks to Caitlin Allyana, my beta reader who was very right in thinking Sirius probably wouldn't be joking around as much as I had him doing, and who also is my hundredth reviewer over all! 

Thanks to all of you who reviewed. If it wasn't for you guys, I don't think I'd have written anymore…

I'd also appreciate it if you read my other stories, although I believe that this one is by far my best work to date…

Long live the Bobs,

Zapper/Sarah


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